kickingcarbs's Journal, 21 March 2018

The best thing you have going for you is youth. When you are young your skin is a lot more elastic. When you get older that begins to deteriorate rapidly. In light of that now is the time to get a hold of your heath and body before you get to the point that losing weight won't be appealing do to the excessive skin. I think you will do fine. Eat well and exercise regularly. Love yourself. I hope others will chime in here with some beneficial tips for you, 

I've heard that losing weight at a slow and steady pace through diet and exercise helps to allow time for skin to bounce back, rather than shocking it by rapid loss.  

right that scares me too. Losing the weight only to have all that skin hanging. I have heard though that losing weight slowly and exercise does help. So here's to hoping lol. 

Skin oil rubbed in right after a shower helps. Vitamin E oil, Shea oil or coconut oil all help give some elasticity back to the skin. Just remember to do it regularly.  

Someone said something to me once about dry rubbing, I havent looked into it yet, but they said that it worked for them. I know how you are feeling, I posted a whole journal about things that I am scared of after losing weight and that was definitely one of them.  

I've read that using a dry skin brush daily helps tighten skin. Also, a slower pace of weight loss allows the skin time to adjust better. 

From what I’ve seen, usually excess skin tends to go back to its original state after being stretched for a period of time, it may take a while but eventually it should contract to its normal state. If it’s from weight loss, and not significantly damaged. However, the time it takes on average and depending on the amount/severity of loose skin could take up to potentially 2 years or longer. So that’s usually why people opt for surgery imo, but in most cases surgery is not needed unless absolutely medically necessary. 

Boy, I hear what your saying. I have read about collagen lately. It’s essentially bone broth. Do I have 2C a day. I guess that’s my thought. As you know opinions are like...... I’ll keep you posted on how I’m hangin’ A girls world is never easy! But oh what a problem to have, instead of the one I literally carry now! Enjoy your sweet day 

Time and freezing with ice packs over t-shirt. (DIY Cool Sculpting) 

firming up muscle too. 

I think age has something to do with it. I lost 40 pounds in my mid 40's and had no problem at all with loose skin. Now I'm in my early 60's and have lost a little more than 50 pounds and have some sagging skin. I'm trying exercises that move the area that is loose and a few people on this site suggested coconut oil for the skin. I bought some and have been rubbing on the skin and after about 2 weeks the skin is still loose but is so SOFT that I bought more just because of that. I think Vitamin E is also good for the skin, but not sure. 

No tricks or tips to be found. It's part of drastic weight loss. Ask anyone who has lost huge amounts. It's all about elasticity.  

Agree that slower loss seems to help. I have seen some of those shows with the skim surgeries and it seems rapid loss due to WLS is often why they end up with the loose skin. I have lost and have use exercise weight training to firm the muscle under the skin. 

The only semi-legitimate trick I've heard of was how you go about losing weight in the first place. If you incorporate intermittent fasting, and don't go crazy on the protein, it forces your body to use autophagy and apoptosis as a way to recycle amino acids and build proteins when it needs them. I'm far from being able to confirm it for myself on my own body, but anecdotally I've seen evidence that people who are doing heavy lifting and don't supplement with protein, but instead eat adequate protein and do intermittent fasting seem to have less of a problem. Heavy lifting forces body to build muscle, so it needs protein, but if you don’t supplement, it takes the protein from unneeded skin. And I can also anecdotally confirm that I've seen people who are constantly chugging protein shakes seem to have more of a problem with loose skin – could be a coincidence, could be something to it. Either way, I’m calculating my macros and try not to go over my protein. I’m also doing intermittent fasting and keto diet, at least when I’m on track. So far so good. What everyone else here is saying also seems to be true – age, genetics, gender, how long you’ve been overweight, these all matter. But I think the protein thing makes sense from biology perspective. If you’re sticking with external tricks only, I would try dry brushing – it seems to stimulate blood flow to the skin, which couldn’t hurt.  

I went to Sonobello , they have this machine that rub your skin and is a little painful but it helped me a lot 

I heard this third hand....some doctor said if you just wait, it'll eventually shrink back. I don't know. I have a little hanging skin, but I've seen it shrink over time.  

A study conducted by scientist at Stanford University found that supplementing with 250 mg of gelatin per day improved skin elasticity.  

Yellow vegetables and gelatin is suppose to help. I like massaging my skin using a Grapefruit Essential Oil, don't know if it really helps but I smell good all day. 

Toning exercises will help a lot. 

coconut oil is supposed to be helpful. Over time your body will compensate for some of it. It just depends on how much you have. The younger you are, the greater chance your body will heal itself over time.